MANGALORE, India (UCAN) — Threats from Hindu radicals have forced a Jesuit college in southern India to conduct annual examinations under heavy police security.

St. Aloysius College in Mangalore

Radical groups have accused St. Aloysius College in Mangalore of discriminating against some Hindu students who were denied hall tickets — special admittance cards for examination participation.

The groups have also threatened to attack the college’s principal and rector, forcing the civil administration to impose orders to prohibit outsiders entering the campus of 13,000 students during the March 13-26 examinations.

“Now the examinations are being held with tight police security,” said Jesuit Father Richard Rego, who teaches in the college.

The students affected by the heightened security are from the Pre-University Course (PUC) department of the century-old campus, that also has a primary school and a high school. The college conducts bachelor’s and master’s courses in various subjects.

PUC principal John D’Silva, a Catholic layman, clarified the college had to refuse hall tickets to 12 students whose attendance fell short of the required minimum. Six of them are Hindus, four are Catholics, and two Muslims, he said. He pointed out that the college was only following a government rule on class attendance and the college action had “no communal angle” to it.

The government requires 75 percent attendance in classes before a student is eligible to take examinations. However, it gives discretionary powers to colleges to reduce the percentage if absence was due to college-related activities.

The affected students chalked up less than 50 percent attendance, the principal pointed out.

Hindu groups, however, said the college had denied tickets to about 50 Hindu students.

Srinidhi, a member of the national committee of the pro-Hindu Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarti Parishad (all India students’ council), told the press the college had initially penalized more students for low attendance, but later issued hall tickets to many of them after making them pay fines.

He said the college had not informed students about their low attendance.

However, Father Rego said the institution regularly informs parents about their children’s academic progress and attendance status. The propaganda against the college by Hindu radicals has been so strong that many people now believe the college has done some injustice to Hindu students, he added.

The priest said the college acts every year on the issue of low attendance, but this year radical groups used it as another excuse to attack a Church institution. He added that these groups hope to divide people on the basis of religion.

Karnataka state has witnessed several attacks on Christians and their institutions since the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian people’s party) came to power in May 2008.

Rohit Someswar, a Catholic social activist, said the incident is part of harassment Christians have faced since then. According to him, the failure of 12 students, out of a total of 4,000, to meet attendance requirements, is “quite normal.”